Like Something Out of a Storybook
by Kal-El Fornia
Summary: When a letter is delivered to the Tabris family in the Denerim alienage from a certain Elven Warden, the family gets a little insight into what their favorite Warden has been up to since Ostagar, and also a little knowledge as to who the young woman has begun to travel with.


I may do more stuff like this since I had fun with it. Though, I can't say for sure that I will. Either way, I think this might actually be the first story I've written for Dragon Age with a Tabris Warden in mind. More often than not it's either Amell or Aeducan.

Quote of the day:

_**"When the world was at its worst, there you came-fire in your eyes, like something out of a storybook. I'll never forget that."**_

_**-Shianni, Dragon Age: Origins**_

* * *

Cyrion Tabris had dared not to hope that his daughter had survived the battle of Ostagar, especially since so many people had fallen on that dark day, but as he and his niece and nephew stared down at the envelope that a courier had delivered only half an hour ago, there was a spark that spoke inside of him that told him that his baby girl was alive. He held his breath as he grazed his Elven fingers lightly across his daughter's handwriting that had addressed the letter to him, so lightly that it was as if he was afraid that it was going to shatter at any moment, and he wondered if he was dreaming. He wouldn't say it out loud, but perhaps the Maker did indeed smile on the Tabris family.

Just off to the side of Cyrion though, a young Elven man named Soris leaned into his cousin Shianni and whispered, "Hey, Uncle Cyrion is being kind of dramatic, don't you think?"

Instead of answering him, Shianni just elbowed Soris in the gut, and then quietly walked to her uncle's side. "Maybe we should open that letter now, Uncle? My cousin has probably been dying to tell us about all the adventures she's been getting into."

Cyrion smiled as he nodded in agreement and picked up the letter his daughter sent him. He knew that his little girl would make him and Adaia proud.

* * *

_Dear Father, Soris, and Shianni,_

_Hey guys! It's me, Kalia! I just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive and that I didn't die at Ostagar, just so that all of you and the rest of the folks in the alienage don't get all sad and hold a funeral for me or whatever. Anyways, I can't tell you guys how I survived the battle, at least until later, but for now what I can tell you is that it wasn't the plan of the Grey Wardens to get King Cailan killed, despite the rumor I found out from two newly minted corpses in the tavern back over in Lothering that the Teyrn has been spreading around. I mean, if Loghain wanted to betray the King and leave most of the army to their deaths, fine, I don't really care, but are people really buying the part that the dastardly scheme of the Grey Wardens involved all of us dying en masse? I mean, the guy is supposed to be some kind of tactical genius, right? And that's the best he could come up with? Shems are kind of stupid once you sit and think about it. I'm actually a little embarrassed that they were able to conquer us._

_Anyways, I guess I should tell you guys what my plan for now is. The battle at Ostagar was a total disaster (King Cailan was kind of a dumbass), and my plan for when I found out that I had miraculously survived Loghain betraying everyone, and myself getting shot with like 20 arrows, was to head back home to Denerim, calling it a day and conceding to the fact that Teyrn Loghain's treacherous bid for power is at least better than King Cailan's borderline mental retardation. That still would be my plan, but Alistair (more on him later) wouldn't stop crying until I agreed to spark a civil war against Loghain, apparently Ferelden's most brilliant military mind, and raise and lead an army to slay the Archdemon. No pressure, right?_

_Oh, yeah, this really is a Blight by the way. Just thought you should know. Any who, can you believe it? Alistair is my senior when it comes to being a Grey Warden, and he put the Elf chick with five whole minutes of experience in charge! I'm twenty years old. I shouldn't be raising armies and planning revolutions. I should be (Dad, you can skip the rest of this sentence) out getting wasted with you, Soris, or hanging out with you, Shianni, as we do each others hair and check out the hot guys who work at the docks in the city._

_Speaking of Alistair though, I figure that I should mention I've started traveling with some rather strange folks. First, there's this old lady named Wynne who is a mage over at the Circle which I totally saved pretty much alone since the Templars were too lazy to do their job and tossed me at their blood mage uprising, figuring I could handle it by myself. Knight-Commander Greagoir even gave me a thumbs up as they pushed me through the doors of the tower. The bastard. Wynne though, for the most part she's actually quite the nice lady, like a grandma other than the fact that she has the body of a seventeen year old. Also, can you believe that she gave me a lecture about me being in love with Alistair the other night? Where the hell did that come from? Apparently everyone thinks we're an item. The other day while we were walking to Redcliffe she asked him (Right in front of everyone!) what kind of guidance he found in my (Sorry you have to read this, Daddy) "swaying hips". It was creepy._

_Then there's Leliana who says she's a lay sister for the Chantry (Please, she's totally an assassin) and she's nice, except for the fact that she has a tendency to blurt out racist remarks pretty much all the time. She's kind enough, and I think that her racism is mostly just out of ignorance or whatever, but man do I get annoyed whenever she talks about how naturally graceful and delicate Elves are. I mean, I one hundred percent agree with Humans when they talk about how hot and gorgeous we all are (Maybe that's why they treat us like crap? Jealous of our sexiness?), but not all of us are graceful and daintily swift. I mean, look at you, Soris. I love you, cousin, but you can't even hop a fence._

_Since we're on the topic of assassins actually, I figure that I'd let you know that I've begun to travel with one. He's an Elf named Zevran and he was hired to kill me. Apparently I, Kalia Tabris, the twenty year old Elven girl with no clue as to what she's doing who is stumbling her way through the Blight, am the greatest threat to Loghain's regime. I should be flattered really that he decided to go all fancy on us and hired an Antivan Crow to kill Alistair and I. You don't need to worry though. Zevran is a good guy, barring that whole murder-for-hire thing. (Dad, you should skip the rest of the paragraph again...) The one thing that bothers me about him though is that he keeps making passes at me. You know, the other night I even caught him going through my dirty laundry to sniff my panties. I stabbed him and didn't let Wynne heal him until he agreed to stop stealing my underwear. I think that just made him want me more though._

_Lastly, there's Sten. He's supposedly a Qunari warrior sent here by the Ari-something since the Ari-something asked a question about the Blight. I'm pretty sure that he's lying. Don't get me wrong, the guy is strong and I like having him on my side, but for a "giant", this "Qunari" is like 3 inches taller than Alistair! Tops! He doesn't even have horns! My personal theory is that he's just a freakishly tall Elf. Must investigate further._

_Oh, yeah, I forgot about Alistair. That tends to happen a lot. Alistair is King Maric's long lost son and my Grey Warden brother-in-arms, and according to Arl Eamon it's my job to organize a coup, duel and personally slay Loghain, and overthrow Queen Anora's throne to put Alistair on it so that he can be our King. It's a good plan I guess, but I can't help being suspicious of Eamon's true intentions. I'll have to keep my eye on him. Alistair is a good guy, and I'd like to say that we're pals now, but man does he run at every opportunity to make any kind of decision. When he's King, I think that I'm going to be the one whose actually running the country. I promise I'll give us the right to finally vote, and the right to have our own militias and police in the alienage. Also, there will be a lot of hangings I think of nobles and rich folk who have been taking advantage of Elves for years. Vengeance!_

_...so yeah, Alistair and I are tight, even if he's a bit dumb. Oh, and he's in love with me. When we met he asked what I thought of Duncan (Remember him?) and when I shrugged and said I was thankful that the guy saved my life...well, ever since then Alistair just stares at me with this twinkling look in his eyes as if I don't notice it. The other day he gave me a flower and said it reminded him of beauty in the darkness or whatever (He woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me this so I'm a bit hazy on the details), and then he said that I reminded him of the rose. He gave it to me, and now he thinks we're soul mates. He even told me later that he was, uhm, "ready" to explore our relationship further. I didn't even know we were in a relationship._

_I think I should go now since we have to either head to Orzammar to recruit the Dwarves to fight with us, or search for a Dalish clan that may or may not be in the Brecillian forest to have them join us. The Grey Wardens have treaties for both of them to fight at our side, but I think we're just going to head over to Orzammar for now to get those troops and to find a probably alcoholic Dwarf to join the Island of Misfit Toys that make up my traveling companions. I'm not sure if Orzammar really has anything to offer right now, but it beats going to the Dalish. Does anyone even take them seriously?_

_Anyways, I really should get going. I would have written sooner, but this is the first time that nobody has been trying to assassinate us!_

_With love, your daughter and cousin,_

_Kalia Tabris, apparently the savior of the world_

* * *

When I was first playing the City Elf Warden, I actually started a romance with Alistair completely by accident. I figured just to roll with it though. I actually quite liked it since it was the first time I played as a female in Origins, and I thought that the relationship with Alistair was actually rather sweet.

So, I decided to actually do a follow-up to this once I sat down and thought about it. Mostly though because I just realized that I totally forgot about Morrigan. Next time around, Oghren and Shale will also get mentions as well.


End file.
